In President Dwight A. McBride's Investiture Address on October 7, 2021, he shared a vision for the university that he called the "Framework for Fearless Progress." He noted that
he chose that particular phrasing, Fearless Progress, because it both reflects The New School's legacy of questioning the status quo and signals who we strive to be today and for the future as a university that embraces the possibility of
the new.
President McBride articulated four pillars of the Framework. These pillars capture the aspirations, opportunities, and potential he sees for The New School, based on his experience leading, observing, and engaging deeply with our community since
becoming president in April 2020.
These four pillars will inform a broader university strategic planning process. They are already reflecting and shaping work underway across the university.
[Excerpted from President McBride's Investiture address. Hear the full remarks.]
The New School will be known as a preeminent leader for access, equity, inclusion, and social justice in higher education.
We have much work to do to create an ever stronger, more inclusive, continually forward-thinking New School. And we have already begun making important inroads: notably establishing the office of Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice to drive policy and process changes to make our campus climate a more inclusive one; the work of the Mellon Foundation Initiative for Inclusive Faculty Excellence, enabling us to significantly diversify our faculty ranks; and the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, positioning The New School as an important place of scholarly and policy influence and thought leadership in this area. All of this work signals our momentum toward a more inclusive New School and a more globally accessible university.
The New School will be known for our culture of support and service to our students through intentional focus on building a strong sense of academic community.
Our students express a high degree of satisfaction with their experiences in their academic programs and with our curricula. Where we need to focus more is on our campus culture beyond the classrooms. Our student support systems must be more user-friendly and seamless for our students. Our student resources and services need to be accessible, responsive, and satisfying. In short, our students need to feel our support. We want them to leave The New School not only proud of their education, but also as alumni proud of the relationships they have established here, and of their association with this great university.
The New School will become an ever more visible and engaged leader in the rich civic and cultural life of New York City and beyond.
It is essential to our future as a university, and as an important New York City institution, to build connections, strengthen networks, and cultivate partnerships and collaborations with our elected and civic leaders, industry partners, cultural influencers, philanthropists, and higher education institutional partners.
The New School will be a more integrated university, both academically and operationally, in order to rise to meet its highest ambitions for the future.
To seize the opportunities of that future, we must become a more integrated university, with structures and processes and resources that enable and incentivize collaboration of all kinds—transdisciplinary research collaborations; development and fundraising collaborations; collaborating on the sharing of best practices across schools and administrative units; collaborating in cross-school faculty hiring; collaborating to create a stronger sense of shared governance in our university; and collaborating on the engagement of our amazing alumni.